Ashmere Phase 1

: Longhouton Avenue, Ashmere, Ebbsfleet Garden City

Ashmere, a new Garden Village within Ebbsfleet Garden City, is designed to be a modern interpretation of the UK's garden city heritage reflecting healthy new town principles,

Planning background Following approval of the Area Masterplan and Design Code in 2019 Phase 1 was consented in 2020 and completed in 2024. Phase 2 is under construction with further phases to follow. Setting and Masterplan Located within a disused chalk quarry Phase 1 of Ashmere, consisting of 281 mixed tenure homes, forms the entrance into a new village that will eventually provide 3000 new homes, community facilities, shops, a school, open spaces and sustainable transport connections that we hope will create a sustainable, healthy and vibrant new neighbourhood within Ebbsfleet Garden City. Character The wider masterplan and design code required a scheme with a uniquely local character that reflects local context and heritage. The main entrance to Ashmere draws on the iconic Maltings and Oast house buildings of the historic brewing industry. Grand avenues draw on the character of Victorian streets in nearby Gravesend while the edges of the scheme reflect more traditional farmsteads and rural villages with their informal boarded architectural character. The most striking aspect of the scheme is the setting of the chalk cliffs. Our response was to reflect this fabulous setting with varied dark and light boarded houses overlooking the cliffs and the landscaped spaces between that integrate biodiverse swales, cycle routes, play and landscape that circuit the entire village.